VIDEO MADE EMAIL A STAR

VIDEO MADE EMAIL A STAR

By Josh Beane

Josh Beane is the CEO and Founder of Idea-Far mer, a content creation studio producing original and integrated content for brands, companies and agencies that can be experienced across all distribution platforms.

Video, as a content platform has the tools to create more opportunities to connect with people than any other medium. When I think of a video, I think of all of it’s attributes. The moving pictures that emulate our everyday lives, the words spoken that trigger emotion, music that is cued at just the right time to emphasize a moment. Video is made up of a multitude of moving parts that all have the potential to resonate within you, engage and interact with you, and stimulate your senses. It can hit you from all angles. It’s an amazing tool to create, enhance and tell stories. But without the story it’s just another piece of technology.

Video can make an ‘okay’ story watchable, entertaining, and even successful - but a well crafted story let’s you take advantage of all that video has to offer and helps implement the message in an impactful and effective manner. If someone told you that 10,000,000+ people would willingly choose to engage in a tutorial about email functionality, would you believe them? I didn’t think so. But that’s all that the Google Chrome: Dear Sophie video really is - just an informational, educational tutorial about their email product. But by utilizing video, they wrapped that story in 90 seconds of epic life moments, Hallmark card level words, cute sound bytes and emotional heartstring music - to create arguably the most successful email tutorial ever. It made email a star of it’s own little movie. That’s the power that video can have. You could swap out Sophie with an orphaned child and you might feel different emotions, but when it’s over you would still know how to use Gmail. That’s the real story. Everything else was just maximizing the tools that video has to enhance stories and reach people - that’s when video is at it’s best.

Video content creation is at an all time high, it will only continue on an upward trajectory, and the technology will constantly advance. From video original series on Snapchat to the use of it in immersive VR worlds, the platform is constantly evolving, but it always has been. At the heart of it all is the ability and commitment to tell authentic, great stories. That’s what really matters and will make you standout.

If you’re not using video as a part of your content strategy or to help tell your story - it’s definitely worth exploring. You don’t have to go from “zero to Super Bowl ad,” you can start off small with snackable video content that is an extension of your current and future initiatives and distribute on your social channels. Piggyback video onto your existing campaigns. For example, if you are hosting a seminar or an event, capture it on video. It’s a great way to extend the life and use it as a recap as well as for future marketing purposes. When you’re ready to make video a part of your everyday life but you don’t know where to get started, your brand’s story is the perfect place. It’s a great way to help you define your story if you haven’t already and if you have it’s a great way to refine or even evolve it. //